Time Management Nuggets for Athletic Administrators

Regardless of how hard you work, and even if you are fairly organized, there never seems to be enough time in a day to do what you need or want to do. As an administrator, this is simply a fact of life. You might come in a little earlier or stay later in the day to try to get more done, but this is really only a temporary or occasional solution. Increasing the number of hours that you regularly work is not a long-term answer if you want to maintain your health and sanity.

Your only answer is to use what time you have more effectively and efficiently. The following nuggets may help.

• Determine if you are a morning or night person, or Night Owl, and this might seem like a strange suggestion with respect to time management. But coming to grips with your circadian rhythm or cycle will help you to plan your day more effectively. If you are not a morning person, don’t start your day with tasks that require deep, concentrated thought; schedule them for later in the day when you are more alert.

• Look at the person sending an email and the subject line. These two pieces of information will determine the messages that need your immediate attention and those that can wait until you have a few minutes.

• Take advantage of every minute. If you have five minutes before your next appointment arrives, use this time to answer two or three email messages.

• Develop a stock statement or two to use in order to bring long phone calls to a conclusion. After you provide the necessary information requested, or you get the answer that you need, offer: “Sorry, I have to go. I see my next appointment at my door.” If you don’t like this one, create your own. But many phone calls extend too long and become a great intrusion upon your time.

• Avoid multi-tasking! Research has determined that it really isn’t effective because you are bound to overlook or make mistakes when attempting to do two things at a time. Instead, focus on the task at hand, do it efficiently and correctly, and this will save time by not having to go back and make corrections.

• Use a To-Do List to organize your day. If you aren’t a morning person, put your list together the previous evening. Since you may be a little “foggy” in the morning, email yourself your To-Do List via an attachment. In this manner, all you have to do is to open or download it from your computer when you arrive at your office.

• Create your To-Do List understanding that you will be interrupted at certain points in the day. When buses arrive up to the first class of the morning, students and even coaches will routinely stop by your office with questions, requests for forms or schedules, and to turn in documents that are due. Also, during lunch periods, you should expect visitors. Therefore, schedule tasks that are routine and those that you can easily get back to after being interrupted.

• Resist the urge to simply place any unfinished tasks at the top of your To-Do List for the following day. You still have to consider your circadian rhythm, the times when you may be interrupted, and your daily schedule including meetings, checking fields and other responsibilities. Every task or responsibility, even if it is held over from the previous day, has to be prioritized again.

• Learn to say “No.” Even though most athletic administrators want to help everyone, and this is understandable, there may be occasions in which you are overwhelmed. You may have important reports to finish or inflexible deadlines to meet, and this is when it is important to share, “I would really like to help, but I simply can’t at this time. Please remind me in two days, and I would be glad to assist with your request.” Of course, you should be judicious with this step, and also consider the gravity or immediacy of every request. But try not to take on additional items, if you are already swamped and behind the eight ball.

• File documents in more than one folder on your computer. Not remembering where you placed a document may cause you to use an inordinate amount of time trying to find it. By taking one extra minute, using multiple key words for logical headings for filing locations, multiple folders can ultimately save you time.

Time is a valuable commodity, and finding better, more efficient ways to use it should be a constant effort. Well, it is probably time for you to get back to your To-Do List and tackle your next task.